


Baseball Sucks

by pandorasboxofsecrets



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Modern Setting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-28
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2019-12-25 19:04:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18267518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pandorasboxofsecrets/pseuds/pandorasboxofsecrets
Summary: "What are you smiling about?"She was, for lack of anything that Louis could come up with, the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, even as she tried to kill him with a look."Nothing, just...I'm Louis."She rolled her eyes and returned to staring out the window. "Clementine."





	1. New People, Old Places

Three minuets to three on Friday afternoons were Louis’ favourites. Other students in his class and probably in the rest of the school would have preferred three o’clock exactly, but he saw the beauty in three to three.

It meant that his teacher was too lazy to make everyone focus on actual work, all his peers were talking about their plans for the weekend and all he had to do was sit back and listen. Yes, three to three on Friday afternoons were the best. However, the best sound was the bell. Well second best, beaten out only by the piano in the music room.Louis had already planned his weekend. One of the perks of the whole banish from his family home and sent to be a functional member of society was that he had charmed the music teacher into letting him use the piano to ‘help reform his destructive nature’.

The bell rang out and everyone packed up their belongings, shoving pencils into cases, books into bags, bags over shoulders as they made their way out of the classroom. As they were leaving the teacher called out to them.

"Don't forget, come Monday we're getting a new history teacher so be nice guys!" Louis rolled his eyes as he exited the room. New or not, this new teacher better be ready for the students. Since Louis had been enrolled at least five teachers had come and gone, all due to the stress the students brought to them.

He turned right, heading towards the stairs that lead to the admin building and subsequently the music room when a hand clamped onto his shoulder and spun his around. He stumbled a little and dropped his bag. Groaning, he turned to Marlon with a frustrated groan.

"What?"

"Don't 'what' me," Marlon smacked him upside the head as he chuckled. "Come on, pick up your shit and let's go." When Louis hesitated Marlon rolled his eyes. "You forgot, didn't you?"

Louis stood back up with his bag and began following Marlon. "Forget? Me? No, of course not buddy. Have some faith in me, would you?" He punched Marlon in the shoulder lightly. "I was so focused on this that I was just taking a short cut. But, uh, just to make sure that we're on the same page, you tell me where we're going and I'll tell you if you're right."

"Oh Louis. Quick to make promises, quick to forget them. We've got baseball practice."

He groaned and threw his head back. "Right. That. Why did I let you talk me into this again? I like baseball, I do. But how about this, we just skip today? I guarantee no one will notice that we're gone."

Marlon chuckled and grabbed Louis by his shirt, dragging his best friend behind him. "That is a fake guarantee because a, I'm kinda the captain and b, Brody and I have plans to make out by the sports shed after."

They reached the oval out the back of the school, surrounded by waist level chainlink fence. They could see the rest of the team already on the dugout, workout clothes on and ready to go. By the stands Louis could see Brody surveying the field and a few of his other friends in the stands ready to watch their workout (and no doubt throw in some nice commentary to accompany them)

"Ew."

Marlon spoke as they arrived at the dugout. "Don't be bitter just because no one wants to touch you with a ten foot poll."

He pulled out a spare pair of workout clothes from his bag and tossed them to Louis. He knew that his best friend wasn't the best when it came to remembering, well, anything that wasn't music. They changed quickly before walking out to the rest of the team who were warming up.

"Hey, plenty of people want to touch this face. Like sweet, innocent Ruby," He turned his attention to the stands. "Right Ruby? You can't keep your hands off me!" Ruby scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"Fuck off!"

Louis waved his hand at her before focusing on his favourite blonde. "Oh well, at least I shall have my radiant Violet forever, right sweetheart?" Violet just raised her middle finger at him. "Violet, my love, out secret gesture out in public? I'm wounded."

Before anymore 'love gestures' could be exchanged, Marlon called out to the team. "Alright, alright. Let's get moving, guys. Let's see how long you can keep up." He took off in a jog. The team followed in suit, Louis last as he blew a kiss to Violet before joining everyone else.

 

* * *

 

Living at Ericson's Boarding School meant that almost everyday was mapped out. Including weekends. Monday through Friday was school as usual, but study hall was still held on Saturdays from nine in the morning till one in the afternoon. It was optional to, get some help from your peers or from teachers. If you weren't in study hall, you were supposed to be in your room doing the homework and assignments set to you.

That was Louis's preferred method of studying. He would normally have Marlon and Aasim over in his room to help him. On odd occasions they would sneak Brody, Ruby and Violet into the dorm, but if they did, no studying would be done. They would normally just be getting high off Aasim's secret stash.

One afternoon, when they were smoking the best joint they'd ever rolled Louis' roommate, Mitch, walked in on them. He just frowned a little harder than normal and closed the door. Once they had all shit themselves thinking he was going to rat them out, he just scoffed and demanded to know why he hadn't been invited to join earlier.

Sundays, however, were free days. The one day a week when there wasn't anything set and most of the time, it was just used to laze around outside. Like they were doing currently at one of the picnic tables. Brody sat on Marlon's lap, his chin resting on her shoulder. Next to them was Willy excitedly watching Mitch mess around with a torn apart watch and spare parts. Ruby sat across from them and frowned, hoping that he wasn't going to blow them up, while Aasim was trying to read his book next to her. He wasn't having much luck as Ruby's arm kept pressing against his own. Poor kid had it bad.

Tenn sat across from Marlon and Body, working on drawing a tree behind them that was shading everyone. On the ground Sophie, Minerva and Violet sat, talking about plans for the future, playing their version of the 'five year' game. Louis sat on the edge of the table, in between Tenn and his loved up friend. He was composing something in his head. He could almost hear the melody is he concentrated hard enough.

Bum, bum bum, bah dum, bum, bah -

"Who's that?" Tenn pointed to a car pulling into the school yard. It was a red station wagon, boxes inside overflowing and pressed against the window. There was a surfboard tied down to the roof. Wasn't much point to it, there wasn't a beach for miles around.

"I have no idea, dude." Louis spoke as he, and the rest of his friends, watched the car come to a stop outside the admin building. The rumbled of the car died and a moment later the driver door squeaked open. A man with short black hair and a beard stepped out of the car, his red flannel shirt open with a white t-shirt underneath. He looked around for a moment before seeing the group of teens watching him.

He looked at them for a moment, before smiling and waving at them. Mitch raised his hand to give a little wave before turning his hand to flip the man off. Ruby smacked his hand down, but not before the man saw. He frowned a little, but his attention was diverted with the sound of heels clicking against the stairs leading into the admin building. He turned to see Carley, one of the admin teachers who looked out for the students the best. She was always there for the girls when they needed her, and was one of the few teachers to try to understand the students, not just blindly discipline them.

They couldn't hear what was being said, but before long, Carley and the new man were walking into the building, deep in conversation. He seemed to be talking with his hands a lot.

"Huh, well," Louis jumped off the table. "let's go steal his car."

"Dude, come on." Aasim groaned, turning to shake his head at Louis.

He shrugged and walking backwards a little, mischief in his eyes. "What? I'm a troubled youth. Live a little. Alright, okay. But I've always wanted a surfboard."

"Louis." Marlon's warning tone had Louis rolling his eyes and dropping to the ground on his back with the twins and Violet. Sophie laughed at his antics behind her hand.

"Fine, whatever, Mom."

 

* * *

 

 

Monday's were easily Louis' most hated days. Partly because he had another five days of getting up at his definition of the ass crack of dawn, but mostly because he had double chemistry first up. If he could, he would use the Bunsen burners the melt his eyes out of his head, but that might have been a little dramatic. Just a slight burn on his clothes, some tears from the smoke and off to the nurses office to spend the rest of the morning.

He dropped into his seat and leaned back, eyes watching the ceiling fan spin slowly. God, had it always been that mesmerising? Louis could feel his eyes start to droop and closed them as he yawned. He rested his laced fingers over his stomach and listened to the idle chatter of the classroom. 

"We're getting that new teacher today, right?"

"The one replacing Cunningham?"

"Yeah, kinda feel bad for him. Cunningham looked like he was headed for the psych ward."

"I say three months, four tops. Who wants in?"

"I'll take two weeks!"

"I thought he looked kinda hot, in an older guy way, you know?"

"I heard someone transferred in."

Louis opened his mouth to place his bet when Mrs. Brown entered the room, the sound of her heels clicking against the floor silencing everyone. Louis groaned quietly and lifted his head. Mrs. Brown, with her stern face and high set cheek bones commanded respect without trying. She was kind, if you weren't an asshole. 

"Good morning, students. I trust you had a good weekend and plenty of time to go over the homework on compounds." Louis looked around and saw Mitch roll his eyes. He had conned Mitch into doing his homework for him, for half his share of a joint. "Now, who would like to-"

Before Mrs. Brown could finish, a girl walked in, her face scrunched up and hair hidden underneath a cap with a blue peeling 'D' on it. She scanned the room before making her way to Louis. She dropped her books on the free bench space beside him and sat down, chair scraping the floor. 

"Excuse me?" 

She looked up, seeing all eyes on her. She waved her hand. "Oh don't mind me, please, continue."

That earned a few snickers. Mrs. Brown frowned and straightened her back. Her short brown ponytail bounced slightly. "What are you doing in my classroom?"

The girl pulled out a slip of paper and pointed. "Chemistry, double, room 4, level 2, Mrs. Christa Brown? Am I in the right place or not?"

"What is your name, young lady?" 

"Clementine."

"Just 'Clementine'?" Mrs. Brown walked over to her computer and pulled up the class list. "I assume you have a last name."

"Yeah, Everett. Need me to spell it?" More laughs around the room. She looked to her left to see Louis smirk a little. He looked back to see Mrs. Brown with her arms folded and started walking towards the bench Louis and Clementine were sitting at.

"Yes, I remember now. Clementine, you were just enrolled to Ericson's with your brother by your father, correct?" She didn't wait for an answer. "If I recall, he's just started as our new history teacher. That must be nice, to have your family here with you. In my experience, having people here will help you." Mrs. Brown stood above Clementine. She leaned down to continue. "But don't think for a second that because your father works here that you'll get away with whatever you want. You'll have to work just as hard as the rest of your peers. And something tell me, you're going to need to work very, very hard." 

Clementine and Mrs. Brown stood in a glaring match until Mrs. Brown stood and walked back to the from to of the room. "Oh, and never be late for my class again. This is your first and only warning, Miss Everett. Take the hat off, while you're at it."

Clementine took off her hat, tossed it onto the bench, sunk back into her chair and crossed her arms. She looked out the window and huffed. 

Louis could barely believe what he had just seen. This girl had guts, and by the looks of it, an anger problem. She could fit right in here. 

"What are you smiling about?" 

He jumped and turned, her golden eyes boring holes in the side of his head. He hadn't see them beneath the lip of the cap. Her hair seemed to bounce to life too, no longer contained. She was, for lack of anything that Louis could come up with, the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, even as she tried to kill him with a look. 

"Nothing, just...I'm Louis."

She rolled her eyes and returned to staring out the window. "Clementine."


	2. Rumours

A tray with lunch food slammed down onto their table out the front of the school. Louis and Marlon looked up to see Brody fuming. Marlon reached out his hand and rubbed his angered girlfriend's arms. "Brody, babe, what's wrong?" 

Brody took a deep breath through her nose before she threw her hands up and dropped onto Marlon's other side. "I no longer have my own room." The table was quiet for a moment until Mitch snorted and elbowed Willy who chuckled with him. Brody picked up her plastic fork and waved it at the two boys. "Fuck you both!" 

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Brody calm down," Marlon grabbed her wrist and took the fork. He started making rubbing motions on her back as he leaned in. "You'll get another strike if either of those Delta assholes see you waving a weapon."

"It's a fucking plastic fork, Marlon!" Brody yelled, only to cover her mouth a moment later. She reached a shaky hand out to touch her boyfriend before she dropped it. Marlon grabbed her hand and laced their fingers. They both had tempers and usually calmed each other, sensitive to each others pasts of violence and abuse. Being yelled at brought up those memories that both wanted to wipe from the others minds. "I-I'm sorry, Mar, I just...ugh."

"Hey, it's okay. Just tell me what's wrong."

Brody took a deep breath and looked to their group. They had all tuned in after her outburst. "I got told last night that I was getting a new roommate, and I didn't think anything of it. Until this morning when this...this girl showed up. She just took over the room, tossing her shit everywhere, taking over all the floor space. God, don't even get me started on the bathroom. She's just...ugh she's too much." Brody started to scratch her head, blood already underneath her fingernails from previous attacks on her head. 

Violet reached across the table and grabbed her shaking hand. "Brods, chill. Do you need to see the nurse?" 

Only when the nurse was mentioned did Brody see her fingers. She recoiled from her friends grasp and stood. "I...I need to take a walk. A long walk. There's just...it's too much...it's..." She trailed off as her eyes landed on something. Or rather, someone. Everyone turned when they saw Brody's eyes widen a little. 

Louis was the first to see her. The girl from his chemistry class, Clementine. He had chem with Clem. Man he was funny. And she was smiling at something. Whoever made her smile was the luckiest son of a bitch on the planet. His eyes shifted to see their phys ed teacher, Ms. Delta. They were talking, smiling. 

Wait. What the fuck?

"Is she the-"

"That's her. She's my new roommate." Brody spat as she was pulled back down by Marlon. "Of course she'd be fucking chummy with that psycho bitch." 

Louis' voice cracked slightly. "Wait, that's the new girl in my chem class. Who back talked to Brown! Clementine." 

"The girl you said was 'hot as fuck?'" Marlon raised an eyebrow. Brody turned her glare onto him as he raised his hands. "Hey, his words not mine, I'm only into you."

"Yes - wait, hey. Best friend confidentially breached."

Minerva smirked. "That's a big word, Lou. Take long to learn it?" 

Marlon waved a hand. "Kids not now, Mom and Dad are thinking." 

"I called you Dad once, accidentally." Willy grumbled as he played with his pasta.

They were all so wrapped up in watching Clementine talk to the teacher, that no one saw Tenn coming over with a younger boy following him. He stood for a moment, eyes following their gazes before clearing his throat. They all swivelled, save Brody who was still glaring, to look at him and his new friend. Sophie moved over to make room for the boys. 

"Guys, this is AJ. He's new here." Tenn looked at AJ who smiled shyly. "He's kinda sky, but he's really nice. We've got free space together."

"Hi there, AJ." Marlon waved as he joined them. AJ waved back before playing with a bracelet on his wrist. It had three beads on it, orange on the left, green in the middle and blue on the outside. It was bound to his wrist by a brown leather strap. Given that it was fraying on the edges, the group guessed he'd had it for a while or played with it often. 

"Hi."

Aasim, from his spot next to Ruby, whistled, catching all their attention. "Wow, lots of new people today. I've already had that new history teacher guy. He's kinda a hardass." 

"Oh," AJ deflated a little. "You think so?"

Aasim looked around the table before answering. Ruby pinched him to speak. "Ow, Ruby! Um, well kinda. He's passionate I guess, but dude needs to chill."

"Don't worry though," Marlon said. "He's only for bigger kids. You won't have him till way later. If you're still here, that is."

AJ sat in silence for a moment before looking at Tenn. "Tenn was showing me the art room during free space time. He's really good."

Tenn blushed at the complement, fiddling with his hands. "Thanks, you're really good too."

"Not as good as you. But, my Dad says if I work hard I'll be really good someday." AJ picked at his food before lifting some lettuce into his mouth from his salad. 

"So AJ," Louis spoke, trying to engage the kid. He seemed nice, so it confused him why he was here, and at such a young age too. "What'd'ya do to get sent here?" AJ shrank a little under the weight of the question. Louis noticed. "Oh, don't worry, we've all got a story here."

"Well...I'm here cause of my sister." Before he could elaborate a throat cleared behind him. He jumped and saw Clementine standing with her tray on her hip. She scanned the group before settling on the little boy with the big afro. "Clem!" 

He jumped up and attached himself to her right leg. She pat his back. "I told you to wait by the classroom."

"Oh, sorry," he stood back and looked at Tenn. "But, I made a friend! This is-"

"Yeah, alright, come on kiddo." Clementine cut him off and pointed to his tray. "We're gonna have lunch with Dad."

"Really?" AJ looked at Tenn before grabbing his food, head hung a little. 

Before they left, Brody stood. Clementine caught the movement and turned to face the group. "Yes?"

Marlon reached to pull Brody back down. She shook off his hand. "You don't want to introduce yourself? Oh, but I guess it's not really your style, huh?"

Clementine narrowed her eyes. "You got a problem, Buddy?" 

"It's  _Brody_." 

"Right, right." 

Marlon stood and put a hand on Brody's shoulder, trying to calm her. Violet and the twins looked from AJ, to Tenn, to Clementine. Aasim raised an eyebrow as Ruby grabbed his arm, Willy getting ready to cheer on a catfight. Mitch couldn't be bothered with the bullshit and continued to eat his lunch. 

Louis jumped up and almost tripped getting out of his seat. "Guys, guys. Let's just take a breath here."

Clementine looked at Louis and rolled her eyes. "Whatever, let's go AJ." He pouted at her. "Now." She turned, one last glare thrown over her shoulder, and left them all. 

"Bye guys." AJ turned to leave before Tenn called out. 

"You sure you don't want to eat with us?" AJ looked back to where Brody stood, sneering at Clementine's back. She lowered her gaze to AJ. He took a step back. 

"No, I should go. She said that Dad want's to eat with us."

Violet raised an eyebrow. "Your Dad's here? At the school." 

AJ looked down at his food, feet shuffling. "Yeah. We came with Clem. My sister." He spun around and ran over to where Clementine was waiting with a foot tapping the steps of the C building. Once he was by her side she smiled down at him and gave him a nudge with her foot. 

"I  _hate_ her." Brody ground out.

"Babe, it's okay," Marlon leaned it to kiss her forehead but was brushed off. Brody left the table to go for a walk, huffing as she went. Marlon opened his mouth before sighing and sitting back down. He rubbed his face before looking at his lunch. 

"You're not going after her?" 

"No, Lou, she just...needs some time to cool off." Marlon looked at his best friend. "Hey, tell me about this girl, Clementine? Is she going to be an issue for Brody?" 

Louis looked around the table to see them all looking at him. He cleared his throat. "Well, I don't know much about her, we literally have only had one class together and this we our second interaction. I can tell you, it's going just swimmingly."

"Fuck Louis, be serious." Violet sighed. "This is Brody we're talking about."

"What's that mean?" Marlon asked, brows drawn down.

Violet rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean." She lifted her hand and made a scratching motion. 

"Anyway," Louis cut the tension. "Our dear Aasim here is probably going to have a terrible time in history from now on."

"What? What does that have to do with anything?" Aasim looked at him.

Louis brushed his hair back. "Well, when Brown was giving it to Clementine, she mentioned that she transferred here with her Dad and brother." They looked at him and his face lost its humour. "Brown said her Dad was a teacher here. Who's the new teacher? Who are the new kids? Who did you call a 'hardass' who 'needs to chill' in front of which new kid? Oh and we've connected the dots."

Aasim dropped his head into his hands. "Shit, I'm fucked."

"Think he'll be mad that you called him that?" Ruby rubbed his back. 

He took a deep breath. "I mean, argh, I don't know? Maybe? If not for the names and shit, then cause I said it to his kid."

"Oh, good luck, Aasim dear." He flipped Louis off.

"Right well, I'm gonna go check on Brody before we have to get back to classes. See you later, kids." Marlon picked up his and Brody's trays and walked off in the direction to left in. 

"Bye Dad!" Louis waved. 

Marlon walked backwards. "Oh and Lou, Aasim, Mitch, baseball practice has been changed to Wednesday afternoons and Saturday mornings. See you then."

"God-fucking-dammit." Mitch swore and stabbed his sandwich with a stick he had sharpened into a mini spear. 

 

* * *

 

 

By Wednesday afternoon, the whole school was talking about the new teacher and his kids. While the kids that went to the school were exactly perfect citizens with impressive normal skills, they knew how to dig up information about others easily. It was already circulating around the school that Mr. Everett, Lee, had a bit of a temper from his past, before becoming a parent and teacher.

AJ didn't like people coming up behind him, though no on really knew why. Marlon had learned that the hard way when he tried to invite AJ to sit with his group for lunch, mainly for Tenn.He had an elbow to the crotch and a cackling group of friends as he came back not exactly empty handed. 

Clementine, however, was an enigma that the student of Ericson's couldn't figure out.

Some rumours went around that she shot someone in the foot. Or that she beat the shit out of ten guys twice her size. The craziest one that Louis heard was that she was in a gang back in her hometown, that she had a tattoo and everything. Louis just rolled his eyes and went about his day as normally as he could. Given that fact that Clementine had taken to sitting beside him in chemistry class. 

He noticed that when she focused really hard, that she would bring her pencil up to her hair and twist strands around it. It was kind of cute. What wasn't cute was the fact that is he was caught staring too long was that she would glare and make some vague threat about his hair and a Bunsen burner.

Also not cute in his book, stressing out his best friends girlfriend. Brody had been losing sleep over a new roommate. Took her back to the days when she had to share a room with five other people, some who were a little too handsy. It didn't help that Clementine was brash and a little off putting. Plus with all the stuff being said about her past, Brody felt more and more that she was going to get her throat slashed as she slept. 

Marlon had talked her into talking to the teachers on the weekend about a room switch. If she could last the week she'd have a better chance as she'd tried to 'stick it out.' 

Ruby and Sophie sat beside Brody as they watch the boys practicing on the field on Wednesday afternoon. It was sweltering, the ground so hot that the boys felt it through their shoes. Violet and Minerva sat talking in their own little world while Tenn watched the practice game with excitement. Minerva didn't want him to hang out with AJ anymore, while Sophie called bullshit. Tenn was stuck in the middle of his sisters, again. 

He looked down to the bottom of the bleachers and saw AJ scribbling something in his small drawing book. His tongue was poking out of the left side of his mouth as he concentrated. 

"What do you think?" Brody watched as Marlon threw a curve ball, just out of reach to the batter. He smirked. 

"Well, I haven't really seen her much, other than lunch and passing her in the halls." Ruby rested her head in her hand as she leaned forward. "If any of these rumours about her are true, though. I'd stay far away." 

Sophie spoke. "But that's all they could be, you know? Just rumours. I remember my first week here. There were rumours about me too."

"That's different, Soph and you know it. You just got done for stealing, not assault." Brody said.

"Possible assault." Sophie pointed at them. "Go boys!"

Louis looked up to give Sophie a thumbs up just as the ball soared over his head and into some the trees about the field. "Louis! Pay attention!" Marlon yelled out. He pointed to where the ball went for Louis to retrieve it. He just shrugged and jogged off.

He hated the forrest area that surrounded the school. It always gave him creepy vibes, like something was going to jump out and eat him at any moment. He wandered around the trees searching. With the sun beating down on them so mercilessly, it was nice to be in the shade for a while. 

The trees groaned and sways in the hot wind around him as he looked in the tall grass near the base of a smaller tree. Why couldn't the ball just roll itself back to the game. What was science doing not already making that a thing for him to use? No, he thought, he'd be the first and make a fortune. Not that he really needed to, plus the whole building of a self retrieving ball would take a shit ton of work. 

He shrugged and went back to looking for the ball. He was searching in a bush when he heard a thwack sound come from deeper within the forrest. He jumped and looked around, seeing is anyone was in his line of sight. No one but him and the trees. Great. The school not only houses demons in the forms of teachers, but is also haunted.

He ventured further in to investigate the sounds of cracking wood. He was just about to take a step forwards when something went wizzing past his face and hitting the tree to his left. He yelled and jumped back. He looked to his right and saw Clementine, eyes wide and a bow in her hands. 

"Were you...trying to shoot me? Because if so, that's very rude." He cracked a sweaty, anxious smile at her. 

She stood for a moment before regaining her senses. She marched up to Louis who backed into the tree next to her arrows. "What do you want?" 

"Hello to you too, chem buddy." Louis lifted an eyebrow. Clementine rolled her eyes and took a step back. "What are you doing out here, anyway?"

She shrugged a shoulder. "It's quiet, no one comes here." 

"Right." While the shared a class together and Louis thought she was really cute, they hardly spoke much to each other. He was feeling the tension, wanting nothing more than to grab one of her arrows and slice it through the air, crack a joke to make them both smile. But while they might not talk, he had only ever seen Clementine smile at her brother or her father. 

"Ah, well, actually," He looked around the ground. "If you've seen a baseball anywhere around here that-"

She reached into her back pocket and produced the ball. "This?" Louis nodded eagerly. Clementine tossed it to him. He almost dropped it. He wasn't skilled, okay? He sighed up for Marlon. He was only good his his fingers on a piano, and a keyboard. "Great. You've got your ball. Go."

She turned from him and set up for another arrow. 

"Okay...well, thanks and, uh, bye?" Louis left, but before he was out of earshot he heard her say something. 

"Don't tell anyone I come out here." She drew the arrow back. "I don't need everyone on my back out here." 

The arrow hit the tree with a thunk, finishing their conversation. Louis smiled as he left, even though he was chastised for taking so long that his team had gotten another ball. He looked up at Brody in the stands, fingers combing through her hands until Ruby took hold of them. Maybe, if he caught Clementine alone again, he could talk her into being nicer to his friend. 

He looked to AJ, concentrating so hard on his drawing. Maybe he could talk her into letting him hang out with Tenn. 

She didn't seem that hostile. She was just like the rest of them, a little fucked up, a little misunderstood. If anyone knew about second chances, it was Louis. 


End file.
